The bouquet offers up a complex blend of cassis, black raspberries, smoked meats, a bit of lavender, plenty of soil tones, woodsmoke and dark chocolate. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and nicely peppery, with a fine core of fruit, lovely mineral drive, firm, well-integrated tannins and a long, complex and very classy finish. It is still very early days to be tasting 2018 reds from the northern Rhône, but I hope there are a lot more wines coming down the pipeline with this stylistic bent! 2023-2050. - John Gilman